Accused Lansdale drug dealer headed for trial in county court

LANSDALE — A Lansdale man arrested in May and charged with multiple drug-dealing offenses is headed to county court after all charges against him were held for trial at the conclusion of a preliminary hearing on Thursday morning.

Inside District Judge Harold Borek’s Lansdale courtroom, Frank Raphiek Cristea, 37, of the 500 block of West Eighth Street, sat quietly next to his attorney, Jeremy Mittman, as a Lansdale detective testified about finding cocaine and other drugs in Cristea’s apartment on April 19.

At the time Cristea was taken into custody on May 2 — he turned himself in at Lansdale police headquarters more than a week after an arrest warrant was issued — police said that detectives had served a search warrant on an unrelated assault case at Cristea’s apartment on April 19, but once inside, they smelled marijuana and saw a marijuana pipe, leading them to apply for another search warrant specifically for narcotics.

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After executing the second search warrant later that same day, according to police, detectives found a can with a false bottom that contained suspected cocaine, as well as other drugs, including marijuana and pills, plus scales, plastic packaging bags, marijuana pipes and more than $1,400 in cash.

In court on Thursday, the Lansdale detective testified that authorities recovered 5.39 grams of cocaine from the can — based on the amount of the cocaine seized, coupled with the scales, packaging materials and the $1,400 “hidden in the inside pocket of a jacket” found in the room, the detective said, it was his opinion that Cristea was dealing the drug.

Also recovered from the apartment, according to the detective, were a “small amount” of marijuana and three vials that were later determined through lab analysis to contain a codeine-based cough syrup — commonly used on the street to get high, the detective testified.

During cross-examination, Mittman tried to raise doubts whether the drugs or money actually belonged to Cristea, suggesting that there were other people staying at the apartment and in the bedroom where the illicit items were found, and at one point asking the detective if the jacket in which the money was found was a man’s or woman’s jacket, insinuating it wasn’t Cristea’s.

“It was a man’s jacket,” the detective responded.

“How do you know that?” Mittman asked.

“It was very large, a very long bubble jacket,” the detective said. “I wear a bubble jacket so I know what that looks like. The women usually have a fur collar, and it’s cut more in the waist area for a woman.”

Ultimately, the lawyer’s line of questioning wasn’t enough to convince the judge to dismiss any of the charges.

“I think you’ve got your oar in the water, Mr. Mittman, but you’ve got a long way to row,” Borek said.

With that, the judge held for trial two felony counts of possession with intent to deliver, four misdemeanor counts of possession of a controlled substance and four misdemeanor counts of possession of drug paraphernalia.

Bail was maintained at $50,000 cash, which Cristea posted on May 2, the day of his arrest and preliminary arraignment.

Cristea is scheduled to be formally arraigned in county court in Norristown on Nov. 6.